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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 3:12AM
#1
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Date Joined:
May 12, 2009
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Wandering Monsters
Elementary
By James WyattElementals and genies have their own charms, which James discusses this week in Wandering Monsters. Take a look at a brief discussion of cosmology, then dive right into the creature descriptions.Talk about this column here.
Yan
Montréal, Canada
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 3:16AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2005
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I can't find this article. The link you have here goes to "Fairest of Them All".
Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am the Unfailing Arbiter of All That Is Good Design (Even More So Than The Actual Developers) TMSpeaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further. Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 3:21AM
#3
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Date Joined:
May 12, 2009
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I think James was spot on for Elementals and Genies. Oh and Distant Land = Zakhara :P
For the Planes its better from a principle of inclusion so it works for all.
PS Link fixed.
Yan
Montréal, Canada
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 4:29AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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Ctrl+F phenomenal cosmic power  Most of it seems right otherwise.
Orzel, Halfelven son of Zel, Mystic Ranger, Bane to Dragons, Death to Undeath, Killer of Abyssals, King of the Wilds.
Constitution Based Class for Next!
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 4:46AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Sep 17, 2004
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Does he even bother reading Jon Schindehette's articles, and the responses they recieve? This is the second time this has happened, first with the dryads-as-nymph-subtype thing a few weeks ago, and now him completely ignoring the feedback saying to change the poll questions for being misleading, which got over 20 Likes - the most I've ever seen on any comment on any of these articles!
What's more, he utterly failed to capitalise on the poll results from last week, and mention did not mention the elemental archons at all.
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 5:28AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2007
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The planar setup is good. I've seen few games where the actual organization of the elemental planes mattered, and if it did matter in a game I was running I would rather decide what the setup is. No matter what version your running, it takes some creativity and additions to the game to make the elemental planes interesting.
As for the basic elemetal creatures, not a bad start, though some of the more interesting 4e elemental creatures should be brought over also. 4e's "throw two random elemental words together" strategy didn't make better elementals in general. However, some of them are decent monsters and mixing some of them in will help to give groups of elementals more options and differing creatures.
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 5:51AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 12, 2006
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Good article. I agree on almost everything. The only thing I really didn't understand is where he's aiming in terms of cosmology. It would be good to have an article presenting one Upper Plane to really understand what he means.
I see that all the previous poll results are in line with my thinking.
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 5:52AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 25, 2009
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I'm all in favor of not having a default cosmology, but I'd still really like to see the options codified somewhere in a Next book. It's one thing to say, "choose your own flavor" it's another to say "there is no flavor here, make up your own. If you want to, you could buy some of our old books to figure out what the flavor used to be, but if you're new you're pretty much screwed." Heck, I'd prefer a baked in option that I could change (because let's face it, I can change it regardless of what you say) than leaving it utterly blank.
Also, genasi as almost indistinguishable from humans? Maybe this is just innate conservatism talking, but why? More different is more unique, and I rather liked genasi. Obviously when you've got more than a sentence on them they might have plenty of cool, but I'm not really sure why you're throwing out the old fluff. Anyone want to explain it?
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 6:11AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2005
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Also, genasi as almost indistinguishable from humans? Maybe this is just innate conservatism talking, but why? More different is more unique, and I rather liked genasi. Obviously when you've got more than a sentence on them they might have plenty of cool, but I'm not really sure why you're throwing out the old fluff. Anyone want to explain it?
I like the genasi, and I definately prefer the "ZOMG a monster!" appearance over the "almost human" version, but the last part of the section did mention those with stronger ties to the elemental plane(s) might share more otherworldly qualities. I think the overall point is that different people want a different level of "wierd", and I am fine with allowing both extremes to exist as core.
Magic Dual Color Test
Show
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7 months ago ::
Dec 11, 2012 - 6:32AM
#10
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- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
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I like "planar ambiguity" as a theme for Next's Manual of the Planes.
I find the poll responses from last week fascinating. A lot less consensus than we've seen in the past.
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